


Nerves

by rancheel



Series: When You Depart From Me Sorrow Abides, and Happiness Takes His Leave [11]
Category: British Actor RPF, Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: Broadway References, F/M, Implied Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-01 19:54:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20263645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rancheel/pseuds/rancheel
Summary: Noelle's never been more proud of Tom, even if he's a little nervous for his first broadway preview.





	Nerves

Tom was never normally one to be nervous before shows. That was always more of Noelle’s thing he figured, after she began growing in her career, Noelle always worried. No matter if it was a show she or he was in.

But this time around, Tom was more than sure he was worrying enough for the both of them.

Betrayal finally had it’s first preview day. Everyone was ecstatic and on their toes. New theatre, on _ Broadway _ no less, and many little fumbles during rehearsals that seemed to keep nagging Tom in the back of his mind.

Tom was nervous, he finally admitted to Noelle over breakfast. She was quick to try and help ease what nervousness he had the best she could before she had to run to some team meetings Jillian had set up for her.

He expected to see Noelle after he finished stagedooring, and that seemed to make him worry even _ more_.

He thought about texting her a few more times after his call time to the theatre but he felt as if he’d be taking her away from her meetings.

Tom could almost hear Noelle’s voice chastising him about not texting her when he was feeling more anxious.

The ritual before any type of show was to play a few rounds of games to prepare and warm up before going off to get in the zone, as Tom called it.

Tom made sure to lose himself in a game of Big Booty to go ahead and start his reign of this run of Betrayal, yet somehow Charlie _ still _ beat him to winning just by a few moments and not stumbling over his words.

Joking threats were exchanged just as Tom finally got into his dressing room for the rest of the time he had while the house filled up, his eyes falling onto Noelle’s immediately just as the door clicked shut.

She held a decently sized bouquet of flowers in her hands, almost standing on Bobby’s empty dog bed, but just off by a few centimeters.

“Noelle?”

“Hey, superstar,” Noelle said with a wide smile. Tom shut the door behind him before letting out a bashful laugh as he stepped closer to Noelle and take the flowers from her hands gently, already seeing a vase filled with some water for them next to where he left his phone to charge.

“I thought you’d see me after the show?”

“Well I was planning to, but then I saw these flowers on my way back from a meeting with Jillian and I thought I’d be the first to get you a bouquet before it became a garden in here,” Noelle explained softly as she let her hands fall to flatten on the fronts of her thighs, her smile never faltering as she watched Tom’s eyes sparkle from the bright dressing room lights while he examined the flowers.

“You’re _ far _ too good for me.”

Noelle rolled her eyes dramatically and carefully led Tom’s hands to the vase so the flowers finally made their home on his small desk he’d sectioned off.

“I think it’s the other way around, _ Mr. Broadway Star.” _Noelle practically felt the eye roll Tom supplied her before she was pulled into his chest tightly, a kiss being dropped on her forehead that was just peeking out from the confines of his chest.

They stayed in the embrace for a few moments in complete silence, until the announcement for 25 minutes came over the intercoms, which caused Noelle to pull away. Tom noticed her eyes seemed a bit teary, which was causing his to fog up a bit.

“You know if you cry, I’m going to cry, right?” Tom said as calmly as he could. Noelle gave him a look and swatted at his chest with a small gasp.

“Shut up. You’re literally about to make your Broadway debut! My fiancé! _ Broadway! _ These are tears of _ happiness_, Thomas!” Noelle exclaimed playfully, letting out a wet laugh as she quickly ran the sides of her index fingers under her eyes to not mess with her light eye makeup she put on earlier in the day before sniffling dramatically.

Tom let out a fond laugh as he felt his throat tighten from the tears springing to his eyes as he felt Noelle bury herself back into his chest quickly. His hands automatically found their way to her sides.

“‘M just so _ proud _ of you, Tom. You’ve come a long way and I—”

Tom cut Noelle’s teary babbling by pressing his lips to hers for just a brief moment before pulling away. He felt her get up a bit higher on her tippy toes so she could properly wrap her arms around him in a hug.

“I love you, ‘Elle,” Tom said gently, his arms wrapping around her waist firmly to lift her off the ground a bit, the both of them letting out a small chuckle at Noelle’s reaction.

“I love you too, Tom. You can put me down now if you’d like,” she quietly replied against the skin of his neck where her face was buried. Tom let out a playful hum as he tightened his grip slightly.

“I wouldn’t like to, but I fear that I don’t have a choice, do I?”

Noelle let out another huff of a laugh.

“No, I’d kill you if you missed your Broadway debut for me.”

Tom laughed fondly, noting that the tears in his eyes seemed to have dried just as he carefully placed Noelle back on her feet.

He gave himself the time to actually take in what she was wearing and felt completely blown away. 

She wore a cream blouse that was paired with one of her nicer pleated skirts and her flats that were pointed at the tips and had the strap that she despised around her ankle.

Tom tried not to pay close attention to his thoughts as they tried to direct him to the _ last time _ Noelle wore this skirt and blouse combination.

Thankfully Noelle pulled him back to reality by gently hip checking him as she started to head back to the door.

“Wha— Where are you going?” Tom questioned suddenly, practically whipping around to watch Noelle as she left, his hand twitching as if he was about to reach out and tug her back farther into his dressing room.

“You just got the 15 minute announcement, dear. I should leave before you get _ too _ carried away with staring at me?” Noelle questioned innocently as she smiled smugly, starting to slowly open the door.

So he _ wasn’t _ being subtle about that?

“No, Tom. You weren’t. Now is there anything else you desire to tell me before I watch you perform tonight?”

Tom felt his face heat up again at her reply before he took a few steps to be face to face with Noelle.

“You do know we’re going to have a small..” He took a moment to eye Noelle’s outfit up and down again before sporting a small, boyish smirk, “_chat _ about this outfit when we’re back at the rental flat.”

Noelle’s smile grew into a smirk in response before she pressed a quick kiss to Tom’s lips before slipping most of her body between the doorframe and the cracked door so Tom didn’t try to pull her back in.

“I would hope so, Thomas. The couch you have in here doesn’t look very comfortable.”

Tom tried to hold back a snort as he took a small glance at the grey fabric.

“You’d be surprised at how comfortable it is, actually,” Tom testified as he pressed his shoulder into the wall near the door frame to talk comfortably with Noelle through the door. A hand absentmindedly ran through the stubble on his chin as his gaze went back onto Noelle.

Noelle squinted slightly as she eyed Tom for a brief moment.

“If this is you asking to _ break in _ the couch, the answer is no.”

Tom made an overdramatic pouting face as his hands went into the pockets of his jeans just as the speaker cut through the silence to announce 10 minutes until places. Noelle made a playful pouting face back with a joking whining noise that actually almost sounded like Bobby.

“We have a perfectly capable couch back at the flat, if that tickles your fancy,” Noelle supplied with a smile before peeking out into the hall to say a quick hello to Zawe as Tom sighed playfully.

“Once more, I have no choice in the matter?”

Noelle cooed when she popped back in, letting her free hand caress Tom’s cheek.

“No you don’t, sweetheart. Now, I’m going to leave you be to get ready and in the _ zone_,” Noelle explained gently, lifting both her hands up to air quote when she said _ zone_.

Tom finally let his facade fall to stand straight and catch Noelle at the hip before gently tugging her back into his chest and press another kiss to the corner of her lips. She let out a small huffing noise at his small victory before Tom spoke up.

“Thank you.”

Noelle tilted her head cutely as her brows furrowed.

“What for?”

Tom shrugged as he took in the details of her face, taking a moment to count a few of her freckles before taking in a breath.

“Everything,” he replied with a smile.

Noelle just rolled her eyes as she started to blush, pressing a final kiss to his lips before grabbing his hands at her hips and removing them herself.

“I didn’t do _ everything_, but I sure as hell tried to do the most,” Noelle started, starting to back into the crack between the door and the doorframe again as Tom let his hands fall to his sides, “now go break a leg for me, would you, dear? And _ maybe _ I’ll think about your couch offer.”

Tom chuckled as he caught Noelle looking at him with a brow raised for a response. He lifted two fingers up to his forehead and did a little salute before Noelle winked at him just before the door clicked shut.

**Author's Note:**

> Tom Hiddleston could win a Tony at the 2019 Tony Awards. I won't shut up about it, so please don't ask me to. I wanted to get this out yesterday so, so bad. But I finally got wifi today, so here we are. Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did writing it! (Fingers crossed a start working on other pieces of mine, now that this is out of my system!)


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